November 2015

We are hoping to encourage lively, thought-provoking and articulate conversations surrounding the ideology as well as expanding on the knowledge of those attending. These are the points that we will be discussing:

What does anarchism stand for?
Why are anarchists against hierarchy and authority?
Why do anarchists reject the state in all forms?
What do anarchists suggest as an alternative to the state?

19.00 Nov 4th at the
Réalta Civic and Social Space
48 King Street, BT1 6AD Belfast.

2016 is fast approaching and we will be subjected to endless documentaries about that start of our bloody history as a nation. It will also be a time for analysis of how far we’ve come since the proclamation of this Republic.

In the proclamation there are lines which are aspirational, but grounded in the reality of experience of the rebels.“The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.”

The issue of Marriage Equality is to be debated for the fifth time in Stormont today (Nov 2nd). Yet again, however, the DUP has launched a Petition of Concern to ensure that should the motion be successful its legal passing will be blocked.

The Petition of Concern is a funny old thing. Sometimes it works in our favour, like when it was used earlier this year to block the DUP’s “Conscience Clause”, a clause which would have effectively blocked LGBT+ people and Queers from certain parts of society under the guise of “religious freedom”.

For the first time in the history of the Northern Irish state a majority of MLAs have voted in favour of Marriage Equality. The motion, however, has fallen due to the DUP launching a Petition of Concern which blocks any passing of the motion to law.

Voting against the motion - as 52 politicians did - is one thing, but guaranteeing its failure in spite of a winning majority vote reveals the homophobic, bigoted and bitter nature of the DUP.

“The law is essentially the weapon of the privileged, it is made by them for the purpose of enshrining their power and the people need to dismantle it entirely if they want to be genuinely free” – Errico Malatesta

Does this mean anarchists are against laws? Anarchists are against laws that are created by the rich and the privileged layer of society which are used in their favour. These same laws are used to exploit and oppress the rest of society. These laws are designed to give as little as possible to people.

Today the story broke that an ex-soldier has been arrested in connection with Bloody Sunday in which 13 people (and another who later died from his injuries) were murdered at a protest against internment in Derry's Bogside on 30 January 1972.

The soldiers involved in the massacre, the Parachute Regiment, were involved in another massacre less than six months prior to this. In August 1971, 11 people were murdered over a period of three days by the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy in the west of the city - 10 were shot and another suffered a heart attack after a confrontation with a soldier in which it is alleged that the soldier put an empty gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Bombardier reported a profit of $125 million last quarter yet our media is telling us that the Company is in a serious financial crisis and that significant changes will have to be made to the workforce as a result.

The 140 people killed in the attacks in Paris last night were murdered by Daesh, the self proclaimed ‘Islamic State’. On June 25th this year a much larger ISIS suicide force of about 80 attacked the city of Kobane using a similar mix of suicide bombs, guns and the taking and murdering of hostages. Some 223 civilians were murdered, many when ISIS broke into homes killing everyone inside. Around 40 Kurdish militia were killed in the process of stopping the slaughter. (1 - Read more)

On October 16th ISIS suicide bombers attacked a pro-Kurdish peace rally in Ankara, killing 102 people. Although the bombers were from ISIS many understood that this bombing and the earlier Suruc bombing which killed 33 was accomplished with the aid of the Turkish state. ( 2 - Read more ) The October bombing was seen as part of the process of deliberate polarisation of the AKP government enabling them to once more win a majority in the parliament. Between the Suruc and Ankar bombings the US military had done a deal with Turkey where in return for the use of a major airbase they would turn a blind eye to Turkish airforce attacks on Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (3- Read More)

A wave of deadly attacks took place last night in Paris and Saint-Denis. The French government has been conducting wars in several countries (Libya, Mali, Syria ...) for years. These wars today have an impact on the French territory.

We are confronted to attacks aiming to spread terror and to stir up divisions within the population. Alternative Libertaire condemns these attacks: killing people at random in the street in the sole purpose of frightening is abject. These attacks are the work of a political movement - the Salafist jihadism - whose first victims are the civilian populations of the Middle East and which has already hit Beirut in recent days. This same political movement that continues to wage war against Kurdish progressive forces in Syria.

On 13th of November, more than 150 people have lost their lives and tens injured in 7 different neighbourhoods of Paris as a result of coordinated ISIS attacks with bombs and guns. The murderer ISIS continues its murders outside of the Middle East and Anatolia regions. The massacre which took place in Paris shows clearly that ISIS terror knows no bounds.

We feel the massacre in Paris deeply and share your sorrow. We have lived and still living through ISIS attacks supported by the state. From Şengal to Kobane, from Pirsus (Suruç) to Ankara, we have lost many comrades and friends. We are aware of the fact that the massacres aim to create fear, distrust and loneliness on us. Our pain is great and increases every day. In these periods, We have to grow the solidarity against the murderers that want to bury us into fear, loneliness and isolation.

November 19th marks the 100th anniversary of the execution of activist and labour organiser Joe Hill by the hands of the state.

A Swedish immigrant, a songwriter, Joe Hill was a worker and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Wobblies. He was a prolific songwriter for his union, which contributed to the IWW’s growth in the early 20th century.

This is the text of the WSM publications paper as it appeared up to Nov 2015 when it was replaced by a complete rewrite of the paper. Tbhis version is preserved for archival purposes. [ go to current paper ]

A collectively agreed document on WSM publications as drawn up by National Conference. Amended May 2010 to add the section on the WSM Newsroom. Amended Spring Conference 2012.

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